When we think of uses for honey, the usual suspects come up: stir into tea, drizzle on cheese, add to oatmeal cookies. But have you ever thought about making Honey Marshmallows? A delightful snack, perfect for those campfire nights and when using honey, you’ll be replacing the corn syrup with a gorgeous, golden and raw liquid like our honey. You may choose any of Grampa’s Honeys to make these marshmallows and for this recipe we used Chamiso “Rabbit Brush” Honey. It’s layered with citrus nuances, which paired with the toasted coconut, will transport you to a Caribbean island under the sun.

But before you reach your Caribbean island dream, you’ll have to go through simmering this honey at extreme temperatures, which will make it smell…not so beachy. You’ve been warned but do not let this stop you! The end result is a gooey but firm marshmallow with a delicate honey flavor and a slight crunch with the addition of coconut. Now go enjoy your Grampa’s Honey in a completely new and delicious product!

Chamiso Honey and Coconut Marshmallows

Honey Marshmallows

Recipe Courtesy of Pastry Chef Stella Parks

Ingredients

1.5 ounces gelatin
8 ounces cold water

11 ounces Chamiso Seasonal Honey
8 ounces water
28 ounces sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod reserved for another use

Shredded coconut, unsweetened and lightly toasted

Method

1. Lightly grease a 9”x13” pan and set aside.
2. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, hydrate the gelatin with the first water and let sit while you prepare the honey syrup.
3. In a heavy-bottomed pan over high heat, stir Chamiso Seasonal Honey, water, sugar, salt and the scrapings of a vanilla bean. Dissolve the sugar and using a candy thermometer bring this mixture to 240F.
4. When it hits 240F, turn heat off and let cool to 210F. Carefully drizzle into mixer (low speed) and after all the syrup is in the bowl, beat at medium to high speed for about 15 minutes, until it resembles marshmallow fluff.
5. Warning, this is the sticky part! With an oiled spatula, spoon fluff into oiled pan and smooth the top. Let rest overnight in a cool environment.
6. To cut and coat marshmallows: on a cutting board sprinkle a handful of coconut and remove the marshmallow from the pan and place on board. In a medium bowl, place the rest of the toasted coconut for coating.
7. With an oiled knife, cut large strips and then cut into squares. Toss in coconut.
8. Store in an airtight container.

For more detailed instructions, check out BraveTart blog

I was amazed when the food blogging community lit up with peanut butter pie recipes in memory of Jennie’s Mikey. So when I heard about “A Fund for Jennie”  I knew that I wanted to help in any way I could.

Grampa Gourmet Sampler Pack

To that end, Grampa’s Honey will be auctioning off our “4-Pack” of varietal honeys in which we’ll include:

Tamarisk Honey

Chamiso “Rabbit Brush” Honey

Grampa's Gourmet Chamiso Honey

Desert Wildflower Honey

Grampa's Gourmet Desert Wildflower Honey

White Honey

White Honey

Shipped to anywhere in the US

100% of the profits go directly to #afundforjennie.

Bidding starts at $50.

 To bid, just leave your bid in the comments section below.

Auction ends at August 31st, 6pm Mountain Time

Auction is now closed.

Next weekend Grampa’s Honey will be at the Denver’s 1st “Eco-Music” Green Route Festival where we’ll be highlighting a “green” side of our business we haven’t touted so far. For example, we make our own biodiesel and our honey house is solar powered. More details to come in preparation for the festival.

August 27, 2011
Green Route Festival
Noon – 11PM, RiNo Arts District in Denver
26th Street between Blake and Larimer

The Great Dr. Seuss once said “So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.”   Take this into any context and it will prove you right every time. Today, we’ve it taken into the culinary world and will learn about the balancing act of pairing cheeses with Grampa’s Honey.

Balance is focused mainly on two ideas:

• Pairing two similar flavors that will enhance and provide depth to one another; OR
• Pairing two very distinct flavors that because of their differences, achieve harmony

Slice of Honey and Cheese Pairing

Clover Honey

Subtle and mildly sweet, Grampa’s Clover Honey is sourced of course from Sweet and Yellow Clover flowers in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Described as it “… will remind you of a summer wind cooling off a hot afternoon”, this  honey is versatile enough to use in a variety of dishes that call for honey. Unlike the usual clover honeys you know, this honey has a layered depth to it that brings out various cheeses, as well as not overpowering it.

Semi-hard cheeses such as Muenster or Gouda will balance Clover Honey due to the mild fruitiness of traditional Gouda. This honey will also evolve a nutty flavor on your palate and the finish will let the cheese shine. Tasted with the Muenster and you will find a sweet milk flavor, almost sugary but nor overpowering. We also tried pairing it with a hard cheese such as Parmegianno Regianno and discovered that Clover Honey had a tendency to bring out the saltiness of the cheese that went nicely with the sweet honey.

Chamiso Honey

Also sourced from the San Luis Valley in Colorado, this time from Chamiso “Rabbit Brush” flowers and known to the Native Americans as a plant highly regarded for its medicinal powers. As you taste this honey, aromas of citrus peels will develop and a finish of nuttiness (particularly Hazelnut) will bring it all together.

Pairing citrus with cheeses can be complicated, but sticking with a hard, cured cheese will bring you great results. Pecorino Toscano, due to the nuttiness of this cheese (similar to the nuttiness of the honey) create a harmonious balance when paired.

Dessert Wildflower Honey

A slight reddish tint in this flower will provide you will a look into what flowers it is sourced from: Ocotillo, Cactus, Broom Weed, Burro Weed, Desert Buckwheat, Desert Bird, Mimosa, and Mesquite.

Although a bit of smokiness comes off this honey, when paired with a soft cheese like Brie or Camembert, the smokiness combines to develop an earthiness flavored pairing. This honey is also layered with tropical fruit nuances such as oranges and starfruit and when whipped into creamy, soft cheeses elevate them to a completely different level of enjoyment.

White Honey

Also known as Creamed Honey, this is Clover Honey that has been crystallized under controls conditions, making it perfect for spreading on toasted baguette slices, scones and grilled banana bread. Although the same honey as Clover, the texture allows for a different flavor sensation to develop.

Grab a slice of ripened goat cheese (not creamy) and spread it on! The tanginess of the cheese, paired with the texture and sweet creaminess of the honey will be a great pairing!

Tamarisk Honey

The darkest of all of Grampa’s Honey, sourced from Tamarisk tree flowers near Socorro, New Mexico, along the Rio Grande River. This honey is reminiscent of molasses, dark beers, hickory, pine and the always welcomed flavor of umami (soy sauce nuances). When pairing, save this honey for last, as you would wines.

Ideally paired with blue cheese or chevre goat cheese, Tamarisk Honey is the pairing when two strong flavors combine to balance each other. If paired with a light flavored cheese, the honey will be overpowering, so sticking to stronger cheeses will be the best idea.

Tamarisk Honey drizzled over Blue Cheese

Stay tuned for Part Two of this Honey and Cheese Love Story…

In the meantime, check out the following shops for honey, cheese and more:

About a month ago, The Wall Street Journal posted a controversial editorial on the topic of Colony Collapse Disorder. The article basically said that it’s not a big deal and we (as beekeepers) are fine and there is not need to worry about pollination of our food supply.

I thought it would be fun to post the link to the article, a counter point response by Jeff Anderson (beekeeper in Minnesota) and Grampa’s Gourmet’s take as well.

Point

Here’s the original WSJ article: Blessed Are the Beekeepers

Counterpoint 1

Jeff’s response in it’s entirety (thanks to Tom Theobald for sharing):

June 24, 2011

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036

Dear Editor:

I was at once pleased and disturbed by “Blessed Are the Beekeepers” (Rucker/Thurman OpEd, June 22, 2011). I am very pleased that the authors; “pay homage to the resilience of honeybees and to the business acumen and perseverance of commercial beekeepers.” As a migratory commercial beekeeper for 35 years who has operated as many as 5000 bee hives and as few as 1500, I say a hearty “Thanks!!!” That said, there remain several factual errors and unsubstantiated claims in the piece.

Rucker/Thurman boldly—and falsely—label Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) a ”disease.” This is an almost understandable mistake. Even some bee researchers have tried to paint CCD as a ‘disease’ similar to the other historical bee mortality events. While nearly all of the significant historic events can be traced to a SINGLE causative factor, CCD is different. Honey bees now have ‘AIDS’. One year my hives appear to die from nosema, the next a virus, the following, varroa mites and on… The one constant? . . . nearly all hive losses can be blamed on compromised immune system. Pathogens, which bees were previously able to survive, are now easily vectored and quickly tip the scales into colony demise.. Is it a strange coincidence that the new “softer” agricultural chemicals target the very P450 enzymes that insects—in fact, all animals including humans—use to process and jettison toxins from their systems?

Summarizing several other points from the article which I feel need addressing;
‘Bee supply for pollinated crops has been stable’
‘Increased cost of renting bees since the inception of CCD has been ‘modest’
‘Honey production has been stable “approximately the same in 2010 as it was in the several years before CCD”’

Contra Rucker/Thurman the cost of honey bee colonies for pollination has increased drastically since 2004. While fall of 2006 is given as the start of CCD, it is important to note that many bee operations were experiencing very high losses as early as the fall of 2004. It wasn’t until Penn State was invited to investigate in the fall of 2006 that these losses were recognized and termed CCD. CCD is used to describe colony mortality for which the cause is unknown.

In 1998 honey bee colonies for Almond pollination in CA were $40 per hive. That price remained fairly constant with an average of $50 paid in 2004. In 2005 the price spiked; $85 up to $145 due to bee shortages. The average in 2006 was $135 and this past year was about $150 per colony.

The sharp price increase in 2005 was due to a severe shortage which was covered by migratory bees from the East coast which were able to afford to make the trip to California for more than doubled pollination price. If one is to believe that CCD started in January of 2007, you can legitimately state that the increased cost of renting bees has been modest. The major price jump is the main factor in maintaining a nearly adequate bee supply.

Further, Rucker/Thurman categorically state that domestic honey production “has been stable.” This is false. National Honey Board records on the amount of honey produced in the U.S. is on a steady downward trend line. Similarly, if you take 5 year averages, over the last 15 years a disturbing pattern emerges, both in colony counts, and the amount of honey produced by each colony. Using National Agricultural Statistic Survey Numbers (NASS) averaged for 5 years

One last fact about honey according to National Honey Board figures, in round numbers 10 years ago US honey producers supplied 2/3 of the US market, today 2/3 is being supplied by other countries. Therefore, while there is no shortage of honey to supply the US market, the US produced supply is rapidly declining with the ever-increasing gap supplied by foreign countries.

The article concluded by stating, “In the meantime, we can be grateful that CCD has had no measurable, let alone drastic, effects on the availability of fruits, vegetables, nuts and honey. Beekeepers have been as busy as . . . well, as their iconic insect partners to bring this about”.

Considering my last winters 30%+ losses followed by 20% queen losses of hives I divided to recover this spring, and the fact that my crew is out today still dividing bees as I am writing this which is 2 months after we are usually quit dividing, I don’t consider abnormal bee mortality at an end yet.

You decide

Jeff Anderson
Owner of California Minnesota Honey Farms
Eagle Bend Minnesota

Counterpoint 2

Here’s Grampa’s Honey’s response:

Rucker/Thurman are obviously more concerned about presenting the article as a economic news article related to Agri-business on the wall, not as a scientific article. Jeff is correct in pointing out their blunders. I believe Rucker/Thurman wrote the article to stem fear in a particular market. The U.S. Dept. of Ag, like most federal agencies, are far detached from reality. They rely on “experts” opinions and surveys to gather data. The data rarely represents the true situation.

We as beekeepers have seen the problems since 2006. We have seen the increase in pollination and honey prices. We have also seen the weak and struggling colonies that would have never passed strength inspections in the past allowed to fill contracts.

Just as in beekeeping itself, there are so many factors at play in the beekeeping industry. This article is simply the talking heads spinning their version so that their stock in Monsanto, P&G, and Cargill doesn’t  go in the tank.

Brent Edelen
Simply Honey/Grampas Gourmet
Alamosa, CO

Why isn’t there one?

Some us here at Grampa’s Honey are beginning to think about organizing one in time for fall of 2012. I’m thinking around September or October which would put it right after the traditional honey harvest season, and right before the holiday season.

Participants could include

• honey producers from the region (tasting, competition)
• local companies that use lots of honey (bakers, etc)
• restaurants (cooking demonstrations?)
• mead
• beekeepers, backyard and commercial

I’m just brainstorming right now – but would love to hear from anyone else who’s also thought about organizing something like this. If you have ideas about making this event better, let me know and we’ll work together!

I recently saw a cool example how this is done in the East Cost – “New York Honey Festival” – and we’ve got to be able to organize something to bring our honey community together.

New York's doing it - Denver should too... Just sayin.

In this visually dazzling talk, Jonathan Drori shows the extraordinary ways flowering plants — over a quarter million species — have evolved to attract insects to spread their pollen: growing ‘landing-strips’ to guide the insects in, shining in ultraviolet, building elaborate traps, and even mimicking other insects in heat.

Pollen goes unnoticed by most of us, except when hay fever strikes. But microscopes reveal it comes in stunning colors and shapes — and travels remarkably well. Jonathan Drori gives an up-close glimpse of these fascinating flecks of plant courtship.

Taken over the 4th of July Weekend 2011 in the beautiful San Luis Valley, Colorado.

Beekeepers today are faced with an overwhelming number of challenges. Between pests, disease, and environmental factors it gets harder every year to keep a colony of bees alive and healthy. Most of the commercial beekeepers today are in an “all-in” game and feel that they cannot risk losing their bees by not treating them with chemicals for various pests.

In contrast, I have come to the conclusion that getting back to the simple and basic way that my grandfather and great grandfather maintained bees is the best long term solution.

Beekeeping in Chama, New Mexico

The first thing I noticed as a kid was the fact that in larger commercial beekeeping operation it is all about the amount of honey you can produce. I worked in the extracting room (where the honey is removed from the comb) as a child and fondly remember seeing many different colors of honey on various frames. I would always taste them before loading them into the extractor and try and guess the floral source from which they came. Later, after work, I would describe the color and taste to my uncle, and tell him what I thought it was, eager for his confirmation. It was then that I had the idea of keeping all of the honeys separate, which we painstakingly do today.

Our varietal honeys are born out of timing and careful placement of hives. While we obviously can’t control where the bees forage, we can put them within close proximity of certain blooming plants. In addition we produce several different honeys within a particular area as well. Since not all plants bloom at the same time we can remove honey from the hives prior to a second or third bloom of a different plant.

Every year’s crop is different. Different annual climates will make different plants bloom. We produce our light clover honey in abundance, but all of our other honeys change every year. We take the time (unlike most beekeepers) to keep the floral sources separate. So while we may only have 4,000 units of one kind of honey, we have multiple different varieties of honey and something new is always around the corner with the coming season.

We consider ourselves to be migratory beekeepers. We move the bees at different times of the year to keep them in areas with good forage. There have been some critics recently who claim that moving the bees is stressful to them and a cause of recent die offs. However, in 20 plus years of working the bees, I have never seen ill effects from moving bees unless done improperly.

Below are some pictures from two weeks ago in the mountain valley of Chama, New Mexico. Just across the Colorado border. We were supering the bees with more boxes because they had made so much honey.  The plant in the foreground is called Vetch or Loco Weed.  It is a good plant for bees in the spring. It was just finishing blooming. We use to make surplus honey from the Vetch but the dry condition have made the plant more rare and now the bees keep that first honey they make.

There is an old steam train that goes from Antonito, Colorado to Chama. It’s called the Cumbres Toltec Railroad. It goes over Cumbres/La Manga Pass one of the most beautiful passes in Colorado. I really enjoy the trip to Chama to work bees. We always see tons of wildlife and seeing the picturesque train chuggin up the pass is almost surreal.

You may have heard the talk around town lately. People dropping quips and phrases about “granularized,” “crystallized,” or “set” honey. Or, at least that’s the type of talk that happens around our booth at the farmers market (come visit us if you’re around Denver! Cherry Creek on Saturdays and City Park and Stapleton on Sundays). But even if your not the busy bee in the honey circle, we bet that if you’ve ever bought raw honey you’ve seen your honey in a “set” state (see below left).

Tamarisk Honey

So what is granulalized honey?

Raw honey will solidify overtime. The texture becomes grainy and thick when the natural sugars found in honey crystalize. And depending on the flower source, honey will have different proportions of glucose which will cause the honey to set faster. For example, we have noticed that mesquite honey tends to granulate much faster than our other honeys.

What does this mean for honey eaters?

One. We exploit this property of honey to make a wonderful creamy, whipped or spun honey (ie our White Honey, and look out for a post on our White Honey).

Two. You can gently re-heat the honey so that it returns to its liquid state. Use caution here. Avoid microwaving or boiling the honey. Hot temperatures will destroy the raw honey’s natural nutritional punch. We recommend heating a pan of water on the stove top, bringing it to a boil, removing it from the burner, and letting it sit a few minutes. After the water has cooled some, then put your jar of honey into the warm water. You may have to do this a few times to get the honey back to its liquid state. Be patient, it’s worth it! Remember honey does not go bad.

Three. Embrace the change in texture and enjoy it! Now you can eat the same honey but with a completely different texture. Once honey becomes solid, some of us cut it with a knife and eat it like candy.

Whatever you decide, we hope you enjoy the honeys. Let us know what your favorite types of honey are, and if you have any “set” honey stories to share.